Nonexistent
by The Raven Dark Angel
Summary: Set in modern day LA, there is an organisation called the MIB dealing with demons. Souzou Sagara, a vampire, has to go to them for help. But there is only one question;how do you fall in love with someone who doesn't exist?SagaraOC. Rated for later.
1. Men In Black

Hey everyone. This is my first Rurouni Kenshin fic, and the theory about vampires was inspired and taken from Aryanne's fic, 'Silver Cross'. Major thanks to her for letting me use this! 

Of course, the characters save for Jay and Em do not belong to me. I wish it does, though. 

Notes: In another branch of the MIB, they deal with demons, but they are part of the MIB all in all. And Jay is not a female version of the 'Will Smith J', by the way. They're very different people. Read and review, please! I realized that there are not many fics on Sagara Souzou, so I decided to write one for him. 

You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we 

tell you, get approval for any expenditure over a hundred dollars. You will have no identifying marks of any kind.

You will not stand out in any way. Your entire image is carefully crafted to leave no lasting memory whatsoever with anyone you encounter. You're a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu and dismissed just as quickly.

You don't exist; you were never even born. Anonymity is your name. Silence your native tongue. You are no longer part of "the system."

We're above the system. Over it. Beyond it. We're "them." We're "they."

We are the Men in Black.

*~*~*~*

How can you fall in love with someone who doesn't exist? 

He never knew her name. He'd seen her around for a week now, her in a black suit and a very short, crisp skirt, her sunshine gold hair swept up neatly in a bun, her features smooth and lips pink. There were no other accessories on her person, save for the occasional times where she would wear black Ray-Ban sunglasses. 

She was definitely striking, all right. But what lured him to her was not that. Rather, it was the way no one paid attention to her that caught his attention. Humans, he knew, had an obsession with all things beautiful, and the way they seemed to look through her was interesting. 

She walked with an innate grace, utterly sure of what she was doing and where she was going, as unmindful of the people around her as they were of her. Her head was held high, and she looked like she knew secrets that no one else knew and dealt with whatever it was on a regular basis. She always had another woman with her, dressed in the exact same way, only the woman was a brunette and was slightly taller than her. There was no one with her tonight. That was fine with him. He had only found the first woman fascinating; he didn't know why. 

'What does she do for a living?' He wondered. 'Where does she go every night?' 

He was very sure it was not any office, since he'd learned that offices only operated from nine am in the morning to at most ten at night. He'd tried following them, but they had always gone into the seedy pawnshop called Jeebs, and then a black car would come up to the curbside and pick them up before speeding away. 

She intrigued him. She had striking blue eyes, and whenever he saw them, he felt as though he was looking into her soul. Like her facial emotions, it was placid on the surface, but he sensed that there was so much more to her. 

Throughout the centuries, although he had been to many different countries and had learned about many different cultures, he had never bothered to really look at people or try to understand them, but she was different. It was as if she commanded his attention somewhat, and he was all too willing to give it to her, whether she knew it or not. 

Tonight was different. Even as he watched, she entered the diner directly opposite his vantage point and sat down. 

This was his chance. He would take this chance and get closer, somehow. There was always something about being physically close to somebody that he had never managed to get rid of despite his vampiric nature. He could see her all too clearly now, even as he made his way across the road, ignoring a particularly vulgar motorist who had screeched to a halt behind him. 

The woman's gaze was on the menu, but he knew she wasn't paying much attention to it. 

Entering the diner, he could feel the admiring gazes of most of the women falling on him. He ignored them, having been used to this kind of attention long ago, and took a seat in the booth that was diagonally across hers. 

It was a little obvious, he knew, but he could not help it. She drew him to her like a moth toward the flame, and even though he knew that he could not possibly bring anything but pain and sorrow into her life, he just wanted to see her up close. 

Well, as close as he could get without her getting suspicious, anyway. 

She was a mystery, all right. What was she waiting for? She looked relaxed, but he was an expert warrior, experienced enough to know that she was inwardly tense and expectant. 

"Anything for you, mister?" A heavily powdered waitress who looked no older than twenty smiled charmingly at him. He caught the admiring sweep of her eyes on him, but decided to pay no attention to that; she wasn't the one he wanted, after all. "Expresso. Single." 

"Anything else for you?" she looked expectant. He shook his head. 

"One expresso coming right up, handsome." She gave him a broad wink before sweeping away. 

So far, the woman he'd been watching had not so much as glanced his way, considering his proximity to her in the small diner and the looks he'd been getting.

Her beverage had arrived—coffee, by the scent of it—and she thanked the waitress politely, her voice level and pleasant. He caught her watching the couple at the table near the window intently, five seats away from her.

Without taking her eyes off them, she raised the cup to her lips. 

He watched, enraptured, as the smooth skin of her throat rippled slightly, swallowing the liquid. Her neck was slender and flawless, and oh-so-enticing. For a few good moments, he considered taking her and turning her then and there, making her his for eternity, enough time for him to unlock all the secrets she held within, to run his fingers over her soft skin, to rest his hands against those curves…

'Don't be stupid,' he snorted silently in bemusement. Nothing and no one had captured his attention after he'd been turned. Why should this be any different? It could merely be a passing fancy, and it would be gone like a wisp of cloud on a bright summer's day. 

'Day…' he'd never seen proper sunlight in centuries, considering that he was especially combustible if he ever decided to do so. It was a sure way of death for his kind; the sun. He watched her again. What would she look like with the sun reflecting off that gold hair, the sunlight bathing her form? 

For once, he held no disgust for the solar entity, simply a sense of musing. 

The woman never took her gaze off the couple, and curious, he turned to see who they were. Maybe the man was her boyfriend or something. But she didn't look angry, though. She simply looked…patient. 

It was then that he realized. The blood scent was coming off the man in strong waves; he was a vampire, but he had gone beyond that. He had succumbed to the crazed lust for human blood and was now a demon. 

There was a difference between vampires and demons. Vampires had a general rule, only to feed on human blood once a month—without killing the human, which was called a contact—and consume animal blood every other day for sustenance. Human blood was an elixir, somewhat like a drug, for if you drank too much, the bloodlust would be upon you, and you had to be killed. 

But could the woman possibly know what the man was? He watched her closely, not noticing that his expresso had arrived and sat, steaming, on his table. 

The woman displayed no outward expression, something he had gotten used to coming from her, but something flickered in her eyes. Something unreadable. 

The couple suddenly stood and went out the exit. 

He counted five beats before the woman stood up smoothly and headed for the exit too, her hand already reaching into her suit. She moved soundlessly, and he, too, waited a few seconds before deciding to follow her, in case she did not know what she was getting herself into. He didn't normally bother himself with being the hero-type when he'd been turned after the Sekihoutai, but it would not sit well with him if his woman was killed by that demon, either. 

The woman was striding toward the back alley, and he kept to the shadows, his vampiric nature boosting his natural stealth. His keen ears picked up a faint whimper; the man was sucking his victims' blood now. How would the woman react? 

He didn't have long to wonder. 

The woman had stopped barely a few meters away from the scene. She drew out a silver gun and held it behind her. 

So she knew what she was dealing with. Wood killed vampires; silver killed the demons. His hold on his well-concealed sword relaxed. 

"Well, well, well. Hey, Mack." She spoke. The victim was still whimpering piteously, but upon hearing the name, the demon turned, blood staining his fangs, his eyes grotesquely yellow in the minimal light. 

The demon named Mack widened his grin, looking more like a ravenous beast. He shoved his victim against the wall, and she slumped there, looking somewhat dazed. 

"Ah, Jessica. I should've known you'd follow me. What's with the suit? You never wore them before." He leered at her. "Decided that you want more now?"

The woman named Jessica smiled, never losing her agreeable tone. "I've always thought you were an arrogant asshole, Mack. What would I want from you?"

"How about a kiss?" he came closer to her lustily. "A kiss of eternal life? I'll give it to you, you know. You are always special."

"Really, now?" her voice was level. "I was with you for two months and already I couldn't stand you. What makes you think I want to be with you forever?" 

"You don't have a choice in this, babe. I think I want you. Now." 

"I think not." She whipped out the gun, level with where his dead heart was. She was calm. "You already defected, and I don't think the world wants anything more to do with you." 

Mack stared disdainfully at her, realization dawning on his hideous features. "The MIB?" he snorted in disbelief. "What a load of shit. You are deluded, babe. Those are just rumors!" 

"They're true, Mack. I'm in the branch of the MIB where we deal with sub-terrestrial scum like you. And as of now, you've violated Code 788, 789, and 800 of The Initiative, which automatically means you get disposed of, no questions asked." 

Before he could react, she pulled the trigger, the only sound being silver bullet ripping into his chest. 

With a death scream, Mack exploded into dust. 

The victim, upon seeing the scene, snapped out of it and screamed. 

"You'll be all right, ma'am," Jessica said as she helped the almost hysterical woman up. The woman clung to her helplessly, weeping and screaming at the same time. 

"What have you done to Mack, you bitch?! He was kissing me and you-you—"

"I'm so sorry about that little incident."

Calmly, Jessica slipped her gun back and took out something else. A metal, dome-shaped rod with a thin red light strip near the top. From what he could see, there were many small buttons hidden under a small metal flap. She flicked it up and pressed a button, before brandishing her black Ray-Bans, slipping them over her eyes. "I suppose you want an explanation?" 

The woman was still hysterical, but she had calmed down slightly. Jessica nodded, and pointed to the red light strip that was now buzzing slightly. "Then I would suggest that you take a look in here." 

"Who **are** you?" the woman said suspiciously, glowering at her, obviously not knowing what to expect. 

Jessica simply smiled. It was enigmatic. "I'm just a figment of your imagination." 

He closed his eyes as the red light flared a blinding white. 

Even beneath his eyelids, he felt the sear of the powerful light; it stung slightly, but it was gone as quickly as it came. 

He opened his eyes and heard her say to the now blank woman. "You just dumped Mack when you caught him necking with his ex-girlfriend here. Now you're a free woman; you're better off without the lug." 

She tucked the curious object neatly into her suit and turned on her heel to walk out of the alley, her heels making crisp 'click click' sounds on the road, very different from the quiet way she had entered earlier. 

He blended neatly into the shadows as she walked past, close enough for him to reach out and touch her. But he'd known enough. So she was with the Men In Black. He had heard rumors about the demon slaying branch of the organisation, but had never seen them in action before until tonight. 

So this Jessica was a MIB agent. 

Interesting. 

He watched as the other woman made her way shakily out of the alley with her new memories. Jessica had even erased her memories of the attack. She was indeed no simple person all right.

For him, there was hope. 

The Ishinshishi demons were hunting him ferociously even now. For two centuries he had eluded them, but they were crafty creatures, and so far, he had heard that they had increased by twenty five demons. 

And now, all eighty-five were hunting him. 

Of course, with their inferior hunting skills, he knew they would never be able to track him, but somehow, they had, and they had followed his trail to Los Angeles. 

The Ishinshishi might be dumb, but a fool's blade was still deadly. And he knew he would never be able to deal with eighty-five ravenous demons. 

***

"Mission accomplished, Zee," Jay spoke into the tiny receiver on her car's dashboard as she started up the car, a black Mercedes which she was particularly partial to. "Hostile sub-terrestrial 79 disposed of. Companion neuralyzed." 

"Good work, Jay." Came Zee's crisp voice. "HST 79 was beginning to become a threat." 

"It was pretty easy, considering what I was expecting." 

"You're disappointed?" Her superior sounded amused. 

"Yeah. I expected a fight. But then again, Mack was always a slave to his hormones." She smiled, ignoring a slight pang in her heart. "Anyway, is there any luck on deciphering the strange symbols that have been popping up on the radar? I noticed an increase in the popularity of the morgues lately. Kinda disturbing."

"The twins have been working on it, but we've got no headway. It seems like something's blocking the entire code from getting through, and our satellite feed picks up no sign of any sub-terrestrial on the affected areas." She could hear the frown in his voice, and knew that her boss was not satisfied with that answer. He was always a very curious man, and that curiosity had saved the world a lot of times. 

"Want me to check it out, Zee?"

"Naturally." 

There went an additional hour of sleep. "Give me the coordinates then." 

"Just off Sunset Boulevard, we have a batch there." 

"All right. Sunset Boulevard it is." 

***

There was nothing unusual about the place. She cruised the entire area a few times, following the instructions Zee had given to her, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Aliens and hostile sub-terrestrials had the ability to assume human form, but aside from a Venusian family and a couple of sub-terrestrials—vampires—, she'd done a good few sweeps of the area with her sunglasses—it had been equipped to scan for any aliens and sub-terrestrials—hostile or otherwise—there was nothing. 

Only humans. 

"Nice watch," she remarked, seeing a few rather raucous teenage kids walk past, shoving each other and laughing, identical black watches glinting dully in the moonlight. Another scan showed that nothing was wrong with any of them. 

Hmm. Maybe a gang. But they didn't seem to belong in the rougher sides of the neighborhood. Just wannabe punks, maybe. 

"All clear, Zee," she reported. "Maybe it's a glitch or something." 

"A glitch." Zee sounded extremely disagreeable. "That's not acceptable at all."

"Hey, tell that to the internal branch. I'm just the one who gets out and kicks butt." 

"Right. See anything even slightly out of the ordinary? I'm catching a couple of non-homosapiens around." 

"Nah, just a family of Venusians out for their breakfast and the normal sub-terrestrials out just looking for a good time. Heading back home now, Zee." 

"All right, Jay. Good night." 

"You too." 

***

Jay barely stifled a yawn as the door to her apartment slid open smoothly. Stepping in, she shrugged out of her suit, hanging it in the walk-in closet near the door. 

The door slid shut without so much as a sound, and she pressed a small button on the door. No one was going to come in unannounced tonight. 

Of course, this was no ordinary apartment; it was on MIB grounds. But at least she had a say in how she furnished the place. No interior decorators, of course. Strictly personal. All furniture bought was sent to a mansion in Beverly Hills and sent via truck to headquarters, checked for any signs of abnormality, and sent to her. 

The light on her answering machine blinked. Curious that she would have voice messages, she pressed the play button. 

"Heyyo, Jay. How was the hunt today? Sorry I couldn't tag, partner. I've got a situation here with a couple of pushy sub-terrestrials." Her partner—also closest friend—Em, sounded unruffled despite the sounds of scuffles in the background. "Zee wants us to go squeeze out sources tomorrow. He thinks something's going on. See you tomorrow."

Click. 

Jay sighed, unbuttoning her blouse as she headed into her bathroom. Squeezing out information from her sources would most likely mean that she would have to get dirty. For some of their snitches, proper pressure definitely had to be applied for best results.

She would have to count on another long day at work tomorrow. 

***

"Morning," Em said calmly as Jay entered the car. Em was behind the wheel, tabloid in hand and a bagel in another. 

"Yeah." Jay stifled a yawn. It was eight in the morning, and the bright sun was getting on her nerves. Especially since she only had less than four hours of sleep last night. "God, every day here is the same," she said, extreme loathing in her voice. 

Em smirked and handed her a paper cup of coffee. "Yeah. Bright, sunny, beautiful. How can we ever escape this torment?" 

Jay rolled her eyes. Em was calm, unflappable. It was in her nature. As for Jay herself, she only used that as a front to get things done. Calm and level never really worked for her, it was like a second skin, considering she was on the SWAT team before she was chosen to work for the MIB. 

"All right, what's the story behind today's fun-filled activity?" she took a sip of the coffee and winced. "This coffee tastes like crap." 

Em finished up her bagel. "Blame it on the worms. They woke up on the wrong side of their box today." 

"Eurgh." Bad sleep, bad weather, bad coffee, it just kept on coming. Jay dumped the coffee cup into a dustbin outside before heading back to the car again, slamming it with a little more force than she'd intended to. 

"Anyway, rumors say we've got new arrivals in L.A.. Less than friendly, considering the morgues these days. Problem is, we can't verify the rumors this time. So we'll have to get the information the old-fashioned way." 

"It has something to do with the strange symbols on the Map?" The Map, for one was a huge screen listing the location of every sub-terrestrial and alien on earth at any given time. Red was for aliens, and green for sub-terrestrials. Lately, the Map had been showing a large cloud of strange yellow lights, blocking out the lights of other sub-terrestrials and aliens within a maximum of three-mile radius. What was baffling was that the large 'clouds' were spread out, but they were all in L.A. 

"Yeah. They tried to pull up the surveillance cameras, but we always get blocked out. The twins couldn't figure out for once what went wrong." There was a slight frown on her face, then it was gone, her placid mask sliding back in place. 

"Strange." 

"Yeah. All of a sudden yellow lights just show up and we get blocked off. Surge in drained bodies in the morgue. Ring a bell?" 

"Yellow lights may be demons?" Normally, blue lights meant demons. 

"Might happen." 

"But demons always show up on the Map." 

"So either we got a cult of sub-terrestrials on the brink of becoming demons, or we got a bunch of somethings capable of blocking our signals and satellite feeds." 

Jay sighed. "Why am I not surprised?" 

"Because this is L.A.? Maybe sub-terrestrial 90 might know something." 

"You mean Angel?" 

Angel was a vampire who had set up a detective agency in L.A. a little more than a year ago which dealt with demons, but only in a more personal way. The MIB dealt with demons who were bent on destroying the world. Big things. 

They had worked with this vampire on a good few cases, mostly involving the demon law firm called Wolfram and Hart, but in order to keep their mystery, Jay had always erased his memory after that, letting him remember that he had defeated the demons himself. But they had learnt not to underestimate this vampire, he was one of the good ones, and had gotten the hero-schtick down pretty well, also getting some information about the MIB in the process, which was impressive, so to speak. 

(A/N: Angel is not referred to as having a vampire with a soul here. It is not known whether vampires have souls or not, but as Angel was made by a blood-crazed demon, he is, of course, also a demon, but he was 'neutralized', thereby being the first demon in all of history to become just a vampire.) 

"Yeah. The guy is well-known in many circles, and maybe he'd know something about our new friends." Em started the engine and pulled out, slipping the tabloid into the small compartment between them.

"Visiting him so early in the morning isn't going to make sense, you know. Besides, his companions might be there."

"They will, but we're working down from her. He doesn't know anything about it, we zap them. Him, too. This mission doesn't involve the guy. What are neuralyzers for?" 

"Hey," Jay frowned. "We already zapped them a good few times. Don't you think an overload would give them brain cancer or something?" 

"Angel's technically already dead, and no, it's harmless. We ran several checks on it. The Figanian aliens swore that it would not have any adverse side effects on the human brain." 

"Huh. They got hooks for heads. How well do they know?" 

"Their brains are in their spines, Jay. Ever notice their huge hunchbacks?" 

"Oh." 

*** 

Cordelia was just about to arrange the messy files on her desk—which was originally the reception's desk, but the Hyperion was the base of their operations now instead of a hotel—when the double doors to the hotel opened. In stepped two professional looking women, dressed in identical black suits and looked as if they were sizing up the situation, whatever it was. There was something strange about them, something vaguely familiar…but she dismissed it quickly. 

"Hi, Angel Investigations. This isn't a hotel, by the way." 

"I know," the taller brunette said coolly, flashing a badge. They walked in slowly, taking in her surroundings with a casual air. Even Wesley, who was arranging his beloved books, was curious and now coming over. "How do you do, ma'am. I am Special Agent Sanchez and this is Agent Street, FBI." 

Cordelia caught the strange look that the second agent gave to Agent Sanchez. 

"Good Lord," Wesley raised an eyebrow, surprised. "The FBI?" They never had visits from the FBI before. This probably meant trouble. 

"We have a few questions for a Mr. Angel?" The one named Agent Street said levelly, her expression mild. 

"Angel?" Cordelia's mind raced. What would they want Angel for? He was a vampire, what if they wanted to take him back for questioning? It would mean that he would have to go into the sun…Then she tried to look as calm as possible. She had to know why these people were looking for Angel. "I'm his associate, and he's not in at the moment. May I know why you're searching for him? You can talk to me if you like. There's nothing about him that I don't know." She flashed them her brightest, winning smile. 

Agent Sanchez looked totally unflappable. "We have a few questions for Mr. Angel. Strictly confidential." 

"He's not—"

"It's all right, Cordy," Angel said from upstairs. He had obviously heard the noise and had come down to check. He fixed his gaze on the two agents and looked completely casual. "Ladies. We can have a word up in my office." 

"Of course." 

***

"What is the trouble?" Angel asked as soon as he shut the door behind him. The MIB had never paid him social calls, and this was no time to think that it was. 

"Word has it that there are new arrivals in LA, namely around here. Do you know anything about it?" Em took a seat opposite him, beside the already seated Jay. 

Angel looked them over for a moment. The two had helped him a few times, and they fully expected him to return the favor. Despite that, however, he still didn't know anything about them, save for their names. MIB Agents Em and Jay. Not even Cordy or the others knew who they were. 

"I thought the MIB would be fully capable of detecting them?" he asked, slightly surprised. 

"This time it's different. They seemed to have acquired some kind of contraption that masks their presence. All we can pick up in a three-mile radius is a kind of yellow cloud. We thought you might know something." Jay spoke this time. She was the friendlier one. 

He frowned, remembering…there were a bunch of demons he'd killed just last night around Sunset Boulevard. They were cleverly hidden beneath their human guises and looked like normal teenage kids. It wasn't until they attacked him that he realized that they weren't human, which was already weird, considering that he, as a vampire, could sense other non-humans from a mile away.

They proved to be rather formidable indeed, speaking of hunting some false army commander and executing him and whatnot. It was not until he accidentally smashed one of the watches they wore that they revealed their demonic form. 

They weren't too smart, but all in all, they proved to be very dangerous. Heck, he still had some scars to show from dealing with them last night. 

"Sunset Boulevard?" 

"I breezed there last night." Jay looked interested. "You've seen something?" 

"Yeah, I went, I saw, I killed. There were this bunch of kids who were actually demons, but you won't know that until you smashed the watches on their wrists. My guess is that if it prevented me from knowing that they were non-human, that was most likely a device that would mess your signals up too." 

He saw Jay exchange a look with Em, who looked as calm as ever. 

"Do you know who they are?" Jay asked. 

"No. I didn't really get to have a question and answer session with them." 

"All right." Em rose. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Angel." 

"Wait. Is there some kind of trouble?" his guard was up. They would never come here and ask questions if there was nothing going on.

"Nothing you should trouble yourself with," she replied without any inflection in her voice. 

"Yeah," Jay added with a shrug. "It's all cool. Just a couple of questions. Thanks, man." Her smile was genuine as she pulled on her sunglasses.

__

Flash. 

***


	2. Do You Want Me To Forget You?

Jay stared at her partner in mild disbelief as soon as they emerged from the Hyperion. "Street?" 

Em shrugged. "Well, it was the only thing I could think of. And besides, Colin Farrell is cute in that movie." 

"And I was beginning to think that you didn't have hormones." She decided to let Em's creativity-challenged remark slide as she mused on the more interesting point. 

"Oh, come on. Who can resist lovely Irish eyes?" 

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that he resembles Angel?" Jay asked shrewdly as they made their way to the car. She opened the door to the passenger's side as Em entered the driver's side. She couldn't see her reaction, but when Jay finally closed the door, she could see the beginnings of pink tinge her friend's normally fair face. Well, for a moment, anyway. 

"You're one insane person." She started the engine. 

"I know. That's why I joined MIB. Where are we headed to now?" 

"The Ninth Underground. I've got a snitch there. We might be able to know more about these. Angel's information isn't exactly stellar. We can't just attack anyone who's wearing a watch." 

"A black wristwatch," Jay remembered, her smile fading as the image of the boisterous teens entered her mind. "I remember seeing them yesterday. I thought they were just wannabe punks or something." 

"What did they look like?" 

"Punks." 

***

A good ten hours later and they still did not know who the mysterious new arrivals were. Most of the sub-terrestrials and even aliens they uh, consulted had no idea who they were, only that they were dead nasty and tended to travel in packs. Jay tossed her hotdog wrapper into the bin casually and glanced at the sky. The sun was already halfway down, and the shadows elongated all around them. And already the night crowd was coming out. 

"Come on, we've got one more place to hit. Caritas. Merl is waiting for us there. He has some information we could use." 

"Let's hope it isn't as lame as the others," Jay griped as Em drove. The whole day they heard nothing but things they already knew and a good number of false leads. 

"Yeah, me too." Em sighed. 

****

__

"You ain't dirrrty, you ain't here to parrty!!

Oh, I'm overdue  
Give me some room  
I'm comin' through  
Paid my dues  
In the mood  
Me and the girls gonna shake the room

Wanna get rowdy  
Gonna get a little unruly  
Get it fired up in a hurry  
Wanna get dirrty  
It's about time that I came to start the party  
Sweat dripping over my body  
Dancing getting just a little naughty  
Wanna get dirrty  
It's about time for my arrival  
  
Ah, heat is up  
So ladies, fellas  
Drop your cups  
Body's hot  
Front to back  
Now move your ass  
I like that  
  
Tight hip huggers (low for sure)  
Shake a little somethin' (on the floor)  
I need that, uh, to get me off  
Sweat until my clothes come off"

  
"Oh God." Jay moaned as the raucous music swelled to an all-time high when the door to the nightclub opened. That Christina tramp was bad enough, now add a tone deaf and mucus-filled sub-terrestrial of an indeterminate sex hollering into the microphone was enough to make Jay seriously contemplate suicide. "No one said I had to do this when I took up the job."   
"Want to kill Merl? Get in line." Em gritted, not much happier than she was. 

Fortunately, none of the sub-terrestrials in here really noticed them, happy to be in their own little worlds, perhaps. Jay glanced around at the general populace. Not one human was in sight. Well, actually, there was quite a few, but she just saw one guy light up a woman's cigarette with his finger. 

So not human. 

"All right!" Lorne, the green-faced, tux-wearing subterrestrial that owned this joint said cheerily as he grabbed the microphone from the mucus ST and handed it to another lizard-like one hastily. "Kira, I'm tellin' ya, honey. You gotta learn how to relax! I know tomorrow's your wedding day, and no, your husband ain't gonna eat you. And hey, don't even think of pulling that Julia Roberts schtick!" 

Mostly dead grateful that awful yodeling was over, the two made their way to the bar where a scrawny, disgusting looking demon was sitting, slurping his purple juice disgustingly loudly. Their amigo. 

"I should kill you, Merl," Em said as they sat down, one on either side of him. Jay had not seen Merl before—Em having been in the business slightly longer than she had—but she definitely did not like what she saw now. He—she? It?—had very shifty eyes, which made it difficult to tell if he was telling the truth or not. 

The small subterrestrial jerked violently, almost spilling his drink in the process. "Em!" he turned to see Jay and his eyes widened appreciatively. 

"Oooh…And who will this yummy little candycake be?" 

"Don't make me break your face, Merl." Jay said calmly, having a slight issue about disgusting little demons ogling her. 

"Ooh, I like a woman who has spunk." 

"Sorry. I like my men manly." 

Merl looked insulted. Em simply looked amused. "You know, a smart mouth on a pretty woman is a very horrific idea."

"Yeah, I know. Horrific only to people who can't hold their own against that smart mouth."

"She got you there, Merl." Em cut in with a smirk. 

"Now, all insults aside, what do you have for us?" 

Merl glared at her. "That rookie chick of yours just spoilt my mood, Em. It's gonna cost you." 

Em slid a slim wad of fifty-dollar bills toward him. "That enough?" 

"What do you wanna know?" "New arrivals. Nasty, travel in packs? Watches conceal their identity." 

"Ohh, them, you say? They're Japanese. Well, the original ones are. The younger ones, the ones they turned are from different cultures. Very fixed bunch. Said they were hunting some vampire for two hundred years or so. Came from Germany, last I heard." 

"When?" 

"The night before."

"Why can't they be detected?" 

"How should I know?" he whined.

"Fair enough. What are they called." 

"Oh, this is going to cost you—" Merl said wickedly, grinning. Em reached over and calmly peeled off a bill from the stack. The disgusting subterrestrial's reptilian eyes widened in horror. 

"Hey, hey!" 

"No bargains, Merl. You know that." 

"All right! All right!" he made a grab for the note which Em dangled, just out of reach. "I'll tell ya already! Gimme that!" 

Em placed the bill down. Merl grabbed it sullenly, took the rest of the notes, and stuffed it into his pocket. Giving her a sour glance, he said, "They call themselves some crazy name…let me think…the Ishinshishi." 

Jay raised an eyebrow. What kind of a name was that? Merl went on, more to himself now than to them. "Crazy bunch of demons, man. Killing here and there…" 

"Why are they here, Merl?" Em asked. 

"I told you. To hunt down some vampire guy. They accuse him of being a traitor or a liar or something. Heavy stuff, I think." 

"Do you know the guy's name?" "What do I look like, the freaking Oracle of Delphi?" 

"Sagara Souzou." 

Jay blinked at the sudden voice behind her. Whirling, she turned to see a young man just one seat away from her, his slender, yet well-built form hunched slightly over a beer glass. He wore a long red bandanna, and his hair was falling all over his eyes, giving him a sexy reckless look that would never fail to draw women to him in droves. Deep, soulful, chocolate brown eyes seemed to pierce through her in that instant, his fine features amused yet intense at the same time. He wore a black duster with a black buttoned shirt inside. This guy looked no older than twenty-five, but one look at his eyes told her that he was much, much older. Em narrowed her eyes. 

"You were listening?" 

"It's not that difficult. I heard you speaking of my hunters." 

"You're the one they're after?" Jay asked. 

"Yes. For two centuries." 

"Why?" This time, Em asked the question.

"It's a very long story." 

***

"I don't need your help," Souzou said quietly. "I can deal with them." Reluctantly, he had told them his story, about how he was Captain of the Sekihoutai, but they were later betrayed and hunted down by the Ishinshishi, a government body. He had escaped death by being turned by a vampire, and somehow, the Ishinshishi had known. With a single-minded purpose to kill him, they enlisted the help of vampires to make them immortal. But they had made a mistake. They had gotten blood-crazed demons instead. 

Being cast out of the vampire community, the Ishinshishi grew even more bitter and furious in their loneliness. They killed and fed and turned people, completely insane with bloodlust. Demons as a general rule, had to be eliminated, but this clan of demons were a very powerful force to be reckoned with, and none really wanted to get in their bad books. And so they had followed leads and his trail. He led them on a wild-goose chase all over the world and had landed here. 

Right in the midst of MIB operations. 

Jay walked beside him, quiet and contemplative. She was no longer the ice maiden he had thought her to be, but she was no less an enigma to him. The other woman named Em had been called back and had left early. 

"We didn't say we'd help you." She said finally. "Because of this…clan, people are dying, or becoming demons. Me and Em, we're going to stop this." 

"You can't stop them." He said seriously. "No one can."

"Don't be so sure," she said casually. "The MIB's always got one end-of-the-world promise hanging over our heads all the time. One little clan is nothing compared to what the extraterrestrial branch normally does." 

"You might die." To his surprise, he realized that he actually…kind of cared about that. 

"That's not a problem." He looked at her then. "You would give up your life for the people who don't know you exist?" 

Earlier, they had told him who they were and what they did. To say he was not impressed at all would be a lie. But he could not help thinking that it was foolish. He had tried to help the people of Japan, and look at what he ended up as. The people had even believed that the Sekihoutai was a false army just out to create trouble and even hated them. 

She was serious. "Yeah. If the situation calls for it." 

"Why?" 

"Because." She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. "You were the captain of an army. You should know why." 

He did. Because there were many things worth dying for, there were people, helpless people out there worth protecting. No matter what people said, what they did, they still mattered. He knew all of that. But it had been so long, so long…all he had cared now was his survival. His ideals had long gone, faded with time, his pain, his anguish were merely ghosts in his memory. His honorable dreams for equality, for better times had all dissipated. Instead of dreaming now, he brooded, filled with self-loathing. 

He no longer dreamt, surrendering to this existence that would never bring any sort of light to him. He was a different man now, the harsh sands of time having taught him countless valuable lessons. He couldn't even stay long in one place; the Ishinshishi would know where to find him. All he could care about now was how to slip through them, how to kill them in order to survive. He did not have time to care about humans now, whether they lived or died. Being a vampire had taught him that much; save your own skin first, always. 

But why, _why,_ when he looked into Jay's—Jessica's?—eyes, all that seemed to fade away? All his excuses, the pain he'd gone through. He felt as though he'd been stripped of all that, left only with the ideals he'd dreamt of all so long ago. The feeling was frightening; he had never felt that way around anyone at all. He tore his gaze away from hers. "I do know." 

They walked for a long while in silence. Finally, Jay said. "Would you like to have coffee?" 

He looked at her in surprise. "Excuse me?" 

"Coffee?" she asked again. "Hot beverage, drink of choice. I had one this morning, but it tasted like recycled garbage." 

His better judgement nagged at him, but he ignored it, just as he had always ignored the quiet whispers of his conscience all these years. "Of course." 

***

The diner was empty at this time, save for a surly looking waiter who had skulked off somewhere else after serving them.

"Mm," Jay smiled as she took the first sip, feeling the caffeine skitter down her spine. "This diner always makes the best coffee." 

With effort, Souzou willed himself not to look at her neck once more. He knew that if he did, he would take her and turn her then and there. She was so much lovelier up close despite her line of work, so…innocent. At the same time, he knew that if he reached out to touch her, that innocence that drew him to her would crumble, and he would definitely leave her. No, she deserved more than that. She deserved more than him. 

He said nothing, simply looked at his own cup of coffee. It was warm against his cool skin, serving as a reminder that he had to feed, or else he would be too weak to do it tomorrow night. Animals now were out of the question; he had always hated rat blood, they stank of the sewer. Maybe he would pay a visit to his contact later. Goodness knows he needed the diversion. Being around this woman was wrecking havoc on his senses. 

Maybe it was his hunger thinking. If he'd fed, the thoughts he'd had earlier would go away. Yes, that was it. It was his hunger thinking. Why had he even agreed to have coffee with her in the first place? "Is there anything else I need to know about the Ishinshishi?" 

"I've told you all I know of them." He replied. "But I have also heard that they had acquired a kind of gadget from a pawnshop. A curious device not too long ago." 

She looked interested. "Why didn't you tell us that earlier?" 

"It slipped my mind." 

"Oh." She stirred her coffee. 

"Truly." He seriously didn't want to know why he suddenly thought it so important she realized he was not lying to her. When had he ever cared about lying to anyone? 

She gave him a faint smile; once again, she was so different from when he'd simply observed her. So different, and yet still so exquisite. "Which pawnshop is it? Jeebs?" 

"I believe so." 

"Jeebs." She trailed off, her eyes darkening with realization and disgust. 

He brought the coffee cup to his lips so he could watch her without her realizing it. She truly was a beauty, and it was all he could do not to crush his lips against hers, trap her body in his arms, ravish her as a woman like her truly deserved, to have his name fall from those lips of hers…

__

Stop it, you have more self-control than that. Where has it gone to? That was the problem. In her presence, he had always felt like his self-control had faded away into oblivion, and no matter how hard he grasped for it, it never came. It was frustrating. 

"I need you to do something for me," she said finally, looking straight at him. He set down his coffee cup calmly. She slipped on her dark sunglasses and looked straight at him, glad for the black tint of the glasses. She definitely did not want him to see how much she didn't want to do this, which was a first for her. 

Jay had always neuralyzed people without much of a problem. She didn't like it, but she did it anyway. It was a job. But now…she surprised herself by realizing how much she didn't want to do it. For some reason, she desperately did not want him to forget her. 

Taking a deep, silent breath, she willed herself to speak again. She had to get this done. She _had_ to. "You have to forget everything." She said finally, silently proud that none of the disturbing feelings she was experiencing right now had gotten into her tone. She held out the neuralyzer in front of him. 

"Forget you, too?" he asked suddenly. 

Caught off guard, she couldn't think of what to say for a moment. The way he was gazing at her, the intense way his dark eyes were fixated on hers…the all-too-handsome sweep of his jaw, the slightly commanding air he held even now… He said again, his voice soft, yet filled with intensity and something neither of them really wanted to decipher. "Do you want me to?"

__

No. 

She couldn't do this, she realized. She could not bring herself to press the button, to erase his memory. _I don't want to._ _I'll be breaking the rules in a million ways, but screw the damn rules. _

He was the only man in a very long time who had actually caught her attention and held it, the haunted way his eyes looked, the soft way he spoke, the way his hair fell carelessly over his eyes, barely hiding the bright red bandanna tied around his forehead, with the ends spilling to loose to his back, the mysterious air he always held around him. He was the one person she did not want to forget she ever existed. 

Momentarily appalled at the sudden train of thoughts that were all so alien to her, she couldn't think of anything to say. She placed the neuralyzer neatly into her suit and slowly removed her sunglasses. Suddenly, she didn't want to be around him. He confused her, made her feel things she thought she'd forgotten more than a year ago. That was one of the reasons she had joined MIB in the first place, to get away from the emotions that living a normal life entailed. 

Finally, she said the only thing she could think of, the only thought that stayed strongly in her mind. "No." She stood up, her gaze fixed steadily on his handsome features. She had failed this time. She had a test, and she failed. She didn't care. "Be careful. You never know when the Ishinshishi might be near." 

"I've lived this long without them getting me." 

"They might get lucky this time." Her demeanor was back to what he'd seen last night, guarded yet heart-achingly vulnerable at the same time. "Be safe." 

She laid down a card, which was bare save for a number that was printed on it in black letters. "If you…need anything, give me a call." He nodded once. She turned to leave. 

Finally, he said. "I'll see you around." 

She never looked back. She willed herself not to. "We'll see." 

He waited for a few minutes after the diner door closed, picked up the card, and slipped it into his pocket. 

***

For crap's sake, she was a freaking MIB agent, dammit! MIB agents never gave in to their emotions, no matter how strong they are. Furious at herself for being so weak, she balled her fists at her sides, her fingernails digging painfully into her palm. The words Zee had spoken to her on her very first day wafted back to her, clear as a bell.

__

You are no longer part of "the system." We're above the system. Over it. Beyond it. 

She sighed. Her interaction with Sagara Souzou had been nothing but brief, but what did she feel so drawn to him? She had never once believed in love at first sight, but now…what was he doing to her? He had woken up something that she'd pushed down deep into her heart so long ago, and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. She didn't want to know what it was, only that if she ever fell in love, if she _ever _did so, it would be disastrous. Besides, they, for one, would be impossible. She was a MIB agent, he was a subterrestrial, a vampire. It would never work out, not even in her dreams. 

Valiantly, she tried to forget about those soulful chocolate eyes that had made her feel so warm all over. 

***

"Souzou!" Sarah Kendall's eyes brightened considerably when she saw who was standing at her doorstep. He was as breathtakingly as handsome as ever, with washes of moonlight illuminating his face, the face Sarah had always known as nothing but perfect. She knew what he was, of course. She was addicted to him, literally speaking. Contacts were people who were addicted to a vampire's 'kiss', who gathered a thrill out of it. 

Souzou had always felt bad at doing that, especially so when his victims looked blissful after that, but it was for the benefit of both parties, and he wasn't really hurting them anyway. 

"Sarah." His voice was like a caress, and she shivered slightly, her cheeks already growing warm. Damn, he was still as handsome as ever. "How have you been doing?" 

"Same old, same old," she smiled at him as she drew him in an intimate embrace. "You're colder than usual, Souzou. How long have you gone without?" 

"Three nights," he replied as he returned the hug, distracted by the pulse he saw throbbing in her neck. He had never realized that he was so hungry. 

"Oh man. Are you all right? I mean—" 

"Of course," he assured her, stepping into her apartment. He would never lose control and drain her dry, of that he was sure. He had more discipline than that. She smiled. "I knew that." 

Trailing a finger down his deliciously broad, hard chest, she sensuously removed his coat, before moving to fiddle with the buttons on his shirt. "I missed you, Souzou. God, you were always the best." She said, reaching up to plant a seductive kiss on his lips, which he eagerly returned. Sex and blood had always gone together, no questions asked, and neither party had an objection to that pleasurable arrangement as far as he knew. He ran his fingers over her skin as he claimed her mouth, eager to dispel the thoughts of Jay from his mind. With a flick of his wrist, the halter top Sarah had been wearing fell to the ground. 

And as Souzou pushed Sarah back onto the large couch, his thoughts had never once turned to Jay. 

***


End file.
